Artificial fuel.



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE HELEN MAR VAN ETTEN, OF MORAVIA, NEl/V YORK.

ARTIFICIAL FUEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,612, dated December5, 1899.

Application filed October 8, 1898. Serial No. 693,052. (No specimens.)

T0 (0% whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LHELEN MAR VAN ETTEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at illoravia, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York,have invented an Improved Artificial Fuel, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to the class of artificial fuels in which mineralcoal-dust is utilized to serve as the base or main constituent of thecomposition forming the fuel; and the invention consists in a novelcomposition of the coal-dust or slack with certain materials whichcontribute to the combustion of said dust or slack and in a noveltreatment of the materials during the process of combining them, ashereinafter described and claimed.

In practicing my invention with dust or slack of different kinds ofmineral coal I have found it expedient to modify to some extent thematerials and treatment of the composition, as I will now describe.

For treating anthracite coal-dust or slack I proceed as follows: I mixwith said dust or slack a sufficient quantity of Water to form a thinpulp,which I heat to 212 Fahrenheit in a kettle or other suitablereceptacle, and while maintained at said temperature I add thereto amixture of liquid asphaltum and alum, which mixture is prepared bygradually heating it in a kettle to boiling. After the entire mass hasbeen boiled about one-half hour I add to said mass sal-soda, and whilecontinuing the boiling of the mass I further add thereto whiting andsulfur and thoroughly stir the mass, so as to effectually commingle theingredients. The heating of the compound is continued to expel the Watertherefrom and reduce the compound to a plastic condition, in which it ismolded into blocks of suitable sizes.

The proportions of the aforesaid ingredients are about as follows; oneton of coal-dust or slack, five gallons of asphaltum, ten pounds of alumten pounds of sal-soda, five pounds of sulfur, and five pounds ofwhiting.

When bituminous coal-dust or slack is to be the base of the composition,the artificial supply of bitumen is not required in the composition, andtherefore the asphaltum is omitted in the manufacture of the fuel. Iuse,

however, ten pounds of alum dissolved in Water, which solution I mixwith one ton of the coal-dust or slack previously mixed with sufficientWater to form a thin pulp.

In order to cause the alum to unite with the bitumen in the coal-dust orslack, I boil the aforesaid mass and then add thereto ten pounds ofsal-soda, and from thence on I continue the process by the addition ofsulfur and Whiting in the same manner as in the treatment of theanthracite dust or slack.

Nhen both anthracite and bituminous coal dust or slack are to be usedtogether, I take one-third of a ton of bituminous slack and add first tothe said slack four pounds of alum, made fine and dissolved by boiling,using water sufficient to make a thin pulp, which is stirred thoroughly,and then add two-thirds of a ton of anthracite slack that has been mixedwith a boiling-hot solution, made by boiling four pounds of sal-soda andeight pounds of Whiting together, until the whiting is dissolved in amilky state. There must be sufficient of the solution formed by mixingthe sal-soda and whiting together to thoroughly mix with every part ofthe an thracite, and then the anthracite and bituminous mixtures areadded together.

The composition formed by mixing the anthracite and bituminous is not tobe molded or dried, but is to be burned in furnaces. It can be used assoon as made. It will make steam equal to the best anthracite coal andwill hold fire much longer at a minimum cost. This composition can bevaried, equal parts of the slack being used, and to the bituminous slackcan be added the same ratio of alum, soda, and whiting and then added tothe slacks in the same way as above described. If the composition is tobe molded, five pounds of sulfur is added by being boiled with the sodaand whiting.

In case the coal-dust contains lignite, for which sulfur has anaffinity, I add to one ton of the coal-dust, after it has been saturatedand heated as hereinbefore described, ten pounds of sulfur boiled inWater and introduced in its heated condition into the hot and wet massof coal-dust. After the mass has been thus treated I continue to boil itabout one-half hour, and then add to it five gallons of liquidasphalt-um or bitumen, which I prepare by boiling it with ten pounds ofalum, and after continuing the boiling of the mass for a furtherhalf-hour I add'thereto ten pounds of sal-soda, and subsequently whilestill at a boiling heat I further add to the mass ten pounds of whitingprepared for that purpose by being boiled and rendered fluid.

The boiling of the compound is to be continued until it is renderedplastic and in proper condition to be molded into blocks of the desiredshape and size.

It is obvious that the proportions of the ingredients. may be Variedaccording to the character or quality of the coal-dust or slack, and Itherefore do not limit myself in that respect.

What I claim as my invention is 1.- The composition for artificial fuelconsisting of mineral coal-dust or slack, bitu- HELEN MAR VAN ETTEN.

Witnesses:

JosIE CooK, DELIA D. OUYKENDALL.

